Hey guys this is Adrienzo and here is my first of many toy reviews. If you like to see more stuff I am up to check out my blog “O s s i a”  at  http://adrienzo.wordpress.com/

So anyways let’s begin:

 I really wanted to do this review first because I wanted to tell all of you guys that Movie Realization: THE NEXT, is not just a simple repaint!!!

Movie Realization: THE NEXT, is scuplted by the brillant Kenji Ando, who has done most of the New-Gen Riders for S.I.C. This set came out in late March, a few months after the release of the 2007 movie: Kamen Rider THE NEXT.

I know a lot of people are turned off by THE NEXT because of how horrible THE FIRST was…and no, I am not talking about the movies. Movie Realization: THE FIRST is perhaps the worst set of S.I.C. I have ever purchased. I have a lot of complaints about it but to keep it short let just say Nigo’s arm ripped off as I tried to move it a bit…

But fortunately all of THE FIRST’s problem have been fixed in THE NEXT. I mainly got this set because, well, my THE FIRST set is so badly damaged from just simple posing that I might as well replace it with this one. I got this volume at Yodobashi-Akiba, Akihibara in Japan for a rather cheap price of 3,520円 while the original retail price is 5,040円. And am I happy I got it, once I took it out from the box and realized everything has been re-tooled.

So let’s get to it, for all of you who want to know what they have done in this version of the re-designed Kamen Riders.

 

As you all know THE NEXT’s version of the original Kamen Rider are different from THE FIRST. Ichigo gets the most change with his new red eyes and dark green armor, gloves, boots, helmet and mouth piece. Nigo’s armor gets stained a bit with dirt. His mouth piece is a bit rusted and his helmet as well as Ichigo is all battered and cracked. All of this new detail from the movie is beautifully and meticulously rendered onto these figures. I think even though the same mold was used for this figure it looks a bit more show-accurate than the previous version. The paint job is indeed a lot nicer than THE FIRST’s. THE FIRST’s colours were a bit too sharp and doesn’t fit well with the S.I.C. flare.

Just check out the awesome details!!!

But aside from the obvious superifical changes to this set, the greatest improvements are the re-tooling of the joints which was the greatest problem in the original set.

Arm movements are usually the most important for figures such as these once since leg articulation pretty much have advanced to the point where it doesn’t require new innovations. As you can see there are tons of joints in just one arm. It allows you to pose these figures in almost any position.

But now you might be saying: “All of this can be done with THE FIRST”. Well that is true but its no longer a hassle to pose these guys. One of THE FIRST’s problem was that the glove were detachable, which makes no sense seeing how you can’t interchange anything. The gloves came off so often that it became frustrating so in THE NEXT they finally glued everything together. It now feels cohesive, which is extremely important in S.I.C’s. I really hate picking up an S.I.C. figure and everything begin to fall off, limbs, armor, accessories. The recent S.I.C’s have really done a great job into making these figures cohesive and united. You can pick this figure up without anything falling out or off!!!

Here’s another problem that they solved in this new set. THE FIRST’s shoulder armors were held on by hooks. HOOKS?!!? What were they thinking? Anything that aren’t interchangable really shouldn’t be able to come off. In THE NEXT, this is solved, its no longer a hook but more of a ring and so you can’t even remove it if you wanted to, unless you rip it out or something.

So you are still probably wondering what the “new features are that I mentioned. Well its this:

If you look really carefully at the wrist you can see a metal joint. It’s one of the new features that have been seen in the new Agito and Den-o S.I.C. It allows the figure to have more wrist action. But unlike Den-o or Agito, this figure still uses the old ball joints (which I think really should be taken out of S.I.C. forever). The old THE FIRST figures that I have, had such poor ball joints at the wrist that it started to rip as I was trying to change their hands. I stopped because I didn’t want the ball to rip and get stuck in the arm.

Here’s an extra picture featuring the instruction you get inside the box:

Here’s an action shot of Nigo doing a kick. Though you can’t see it, but this figure is so well designed that it can pretty much stand up with one leg without needing any extra support.

Also like the previous set, there are extra scarves. There’s fewer this time around, with only 4. 2 for each rider, one regular scarf and one to depict action. And we also get a bunch of hands, its the typical stuff you get: fist, grip and open…but this one has an extra one that have the hands fully open so you can do the Ichigo pose.

Here’s some Diorama- style shots:

I tried to reenact that scene from THE NEXT where Ichigo breaks the Shocker Rider’s spine but this picture ended up looking like some weird S&M thing…whoops.

 

So what’s the Verdict for Movie Realization THE NEXT:

It’s Great!!! (For more info on the review system plese go to this page: http://adrienzo.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/review-system-10-explained/

Design: Though in actuality there’s not a whole lot of changes to this set compared to THE FIRST it still looks fantastic. The paint job is great and the details are a real nice touch. It looks a bit more show accurate which I actually like seeing how its called “Realization”. But it does lose point for being just a re-tooled version and not a completely new set. And the biggest problem I have with this is that there’s no V3!!!

Playability: With all the joints and armor all cohesively attached together, THE NEXT is probably one of the best S.I.C. to play around with. You can easily put these guys in any pose you like without the hassle of bulky and loose armor. THE FIRST would have been as great if it weren’t for the loose gloves. Full points for this!

Durability: The new joints are as tight as ever. My THE FIRST figures as I have mentioned can be dismembered with simple movements. Also the new hook which is not a hook won’t break because its made out of a stronger plastic. But as with all Rider toys with antennas you have to be extra careful. I think I have talked way too much about how crappy THE FIRST is but I don’t think I have mentioned that my THE FIRST had broken antennas after it took a fall to the ground. It’s not like the antennas for THE NEXT are any stronger so this is why I had to take half a star off for not including extra antennas!

Value: First I would point out that no matter how cheap I get these figures for I base this grade on how much the retail price is, because not everyone can get these for a discount.  Though this figure has improved dramatically, 5,040円 for a double-pack with almost no weapons or accessories is expensive. And because these are repaint and retooled versions that didn’t even bother to include V3, I had to give this 3.5 Stars.

Final Words: I still recommend this even though they are just retooled figures. They are still nice for any S.I.C. collection. I really urge anyone who doesn’t have THE FIRST, and want to get it, to please skip THE FIRST and just get the NEXT.

Here’s one last picture with their human heads. Please note that these heads aren’t included! I got them from an S.I.C. custom shop. I will actually review these heads later.

By: Adrienzo